Well sue me, but I just thought the premise of Herman’s Head was clever, whereas the premises of Bewitched and/or I Dream of Jeannie were hackneyed. It wasn’t the unrealistic element of them per se that made them stupid premises, it was that the particular element they chose was stupid.
The Herman’s Head premise lent itself to all kinds of clever, insightful jokes about human nature, while the “my wife is a witch” premise only lent itself to inane sight-gags and broad situational bits like, “Gee, the boss is coming over and there’s a goat in my closet” or whatever. :rolleyes:
Err, what? I understand that Herman’s Head was a nice show. I listed it as one of my favorites in the next half of the quote you are quoting. So why respond to mine? I guess I was not being clear. I was listing good shows and what made them unique. I think you might have been looking forpost 48.
No need for that. I understood you quite well. I just think your grousing was misplaced. You constructed a strawman:
I was one of the ones who cited unrealistic shows as being bad premises, and I wanted to point out that, contrary to what you think, I don’t believe that lack of realism makes them bad per se. I understand that we both liked Herman’s Head. I just don’t think you understand that saying: “This show that did X was a bad premise”, doesn’t necessarily mean we’re saying all shows that do X are a bad premise. Is that any more clear?
There was some TV show in the 70s that dealt with a family moving from the big city to a small town in some place like Arizona or New Mexico and running a small TV station out of their house. Not quite sure what the premise behind that was, but it couldn’t have been too good since the show only lasted a couple of episodes.
Difference of opinion. I do not think DS9 was the best Trek. I found it almost altogether boring, save for a few eps and parts of the the final arc. And, here’s the biggie, the very premise is what kills it for me. A static setting in the Trek Universe. BLEAH.
So, FOR ME, DS9 fits with this thread. Obviously, ymmv.
(As to your aside: your fact is merely another opinion. One I do not share.)
Not trying to start any Trek War here. Opinions and tastes vary. You and I are simply examples of this phenomenon.
I still say Manimal is leading the field at this point, though I’m surprised no Australian or Brit Dopers have yet mentioned Catweazle. This show freaked me out as a kid. Basically, the premise is an 11th century magician is transported to the 20th century and has these adventures. Adults never saw him and children shielded him from the world, in effect. Doesn’t sound too shocking until you see him - he looked like a homeless bum who hadn’t ever washed and he had this strange hissing sound that he made when talking. He also cried a lot, IIRC, which I think was because he didn’t fit in with 20th century society and consequently got himself into trouble all the time. What a fucking bizarre show.
Well, heck, for silly premises, my fellow Canadians will surely remember The Littlest Hobo, in which a superintelligent German Shepherd wanders the country, solving crimes and whatnot.
And it was spoofed in the second-to-last episode of a British TV show called Spaced, which completely floored me as I was unaware anyone outside of Canada had even seen TLH.
Green Acres was about a husband leaving New York City to live in a small farming community. And he and his wife stay!
Sometimes the Trio channel shows episodes of Kolchak: The Night Stalker. It’s not that bad of a show. It has the dad from A Christmas Story and that’s good enough for me.
Kolchak: The Night Stalker was a series spun off from an incredibly (and surprisingly) successful TV movie.
That series was one of Chris Carter’s inspirations for The X-Files. Carter even brought back Darren McGavin to appear in an episode as an homage.
Kolchak had a pretty small budget and the effects are somewhat comical. And after a while, they ran out of monsters and supernatural beings to terrorize Chicago. But that show gave me the creeps when I was a wee lad.
You notice, all that opinionating was after the “aside.” The point is that this is a discussion about premises and I can’t accept that a show about a space station is a bad premise for a sci-fi show. And, by definition, if it wasn’t a bad premise for Babylon 5, it can’t be a bad premise for DS9.
As already mentioned, that’s* The Good Life.* One of the best loved Britcoms of all time, nearly equal with Fawlty Towers. It made stars of the four principal actors. The Queen was a fan, apparently. No way should this be on the list of worst premises.
Note : The snobby neighbours were actually their best friends.
As for the worst idea of all time Heil Honey I’m Home
“Plot Outline: In Berlin, 1938, Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun have a love-hate relationship with their Jewish neighbours in this bizarre spoof of 'fifties American sitcoms”
Furthermore the author posts a defense on the IBMD board! Beyond belief.
The main character keeps making dump quips about his blindness, his dog, etc. Already his superduper other senses have picked up on a clue missed by the sighted (but hot) female detective, who has a chip on her shapely shoulder for being assigned to the blind guy in the first place.
Blech. Play-by-play commentary to follow, with spoiler tags as necessary.
